I. Field
The present invention relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to techniques for associating software with hardware.
II. Background
Electronics devices are widely available for various applications such as wireless communication, personal computing, and so on. These devices can support more functions and/or more complicated functions as the hardware becomes more powerful. For example, a modern-day cellular phone can provide wireless communication and may further function as a gaming device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera, and so on.
A complex electronics device (e.g., a cellular phone) typically requires software to control the hardware and to support various designed functions. The software may be loaded into a non-volatile memory within the device during manufacturing and/or downloaded to the device during activation. Regardless of how the software is loaded onto the device, it may be desirable or necessary to ascertain whether or not the loaded software is “suitable” for the hardware, where suitability may be quantified by various factors as described below. For example, it may be desirable to ascertain that the loaded software is a version that has been authorized by the manufacturer and to prevent execution of the software if it is an unauthorized version.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to associate software with hardware for an electronics device.